Friday, February 26, 2010

His name is Rev. Zeljko Guberovic. He's the priest who hounded Biurny Peguero Gonzalez to come forward and recant.

I tried to locate Father Guberovic, because I want to write to him. He seems to have moved on from the parish where this incident occurred and I can't find him. If anyone knows his whereabouts, please let us know.

You see, Father Guverovic is a hero, and I want to thank him.

In an age when Catholic clergymen have been unfairly painted with a broad brush as child molestors (similar to the hateful attitude that declares "all men are rapists"), it is well to remember that countless clergymen are out in the trenches day in and day out, helping countless people in countless ways we never hear about. This particular priest knew that a terrible injustice had occurred, and that for every day a man sat in prison, a terrible justice was still occurring. He insisted that a young woman who had told a terrible lie make it right. This had to be painful for the good priest, and it would have been easier for him not to become involved.

The next time you hear some Catholic basher make an off-hand "jest" about Catholic priests and altar boys, kindly remember Father Zeljko Guberovic, and in his name, chide the "comedian" that the vast majority of priests, like the vast majority of men, are good people who do their jobs and try to do the right thing day in and day out. And sometimes, like Father Guberovic, they even do heroic things.

The woman whose false rape accusations put an innocent man in prison for four years wouldn't have admitted her story was a lie if she knew she was pregnant at the time, according to court documents. Biurny Peguero Gonzalez told investigators she wouldn't have come forward during confessional with her priest if she knew she was going to have a child. "She said that had she been aware of her pregnancy, she probably would not have confessed when she did," the papers state.

According to the Post, the documents filed by the prosecution also reveal that after learning of her pregnancy, Gonzalez tried to avoid contacting authorities. The 27-year-old—who claimed she was raped in Upper Manhattan in 2005 to cover up a fight with her girlfriends and make them feel sorry for her—reportedly lied to her priest by saying she couldn't confess to her lawyer because she had lost her cellphone.

When she finally called her attorney, "it was from a church phone, with the priest watching to be sure she finished the job," the tabloid notes. Gonzalez's admission allowed Bronx construction worker William McCaffrey, 33, to have his 20-year sentence overturned. Gonzalez was sentenced yesterday 1 to 3 years behind bars for perjury.